Last Sunday, Belarus intercepted and diverted a commercial flight between two EU capitals to arrest a dissident. This, alongside the stagnation of the Belarusian economy, the continuing protests and Lukashenka’s illegitimate rule, fuels popular discontent in the country and worries the European Union. Katia Glod, non-resident fellow with the Russia programme of the US-based Center for European Policy Analysis, Linas Linkevičius, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Minister of Defence of Lithuania as well as ECFR Council member, and ECFR visiting fellow Pavel Slunkin who previously worked for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus and our host for this week’s episode ECFR deputy director Vessela Tcherneva recap the recent developments and explore the broader context of the crisis: What will be the impact of the EU and US measures against Belarus? What is Russia’s role in this? And what should be next steps also ahead of the EU-US summit on 15 June?  This podcast was recorded on 27 May 2021. Further reading: After the Pratasevich arrest: Four key steps for the EU on Belarus by Joanna Hosa & Pavel Slunkin, https://ecfr.eu/article/after-the-pratasevich-arrest-four-key-steps-for-the-eu-on-belarus/ Bookshelf: A promised land by Barack Obama, obama-a-promised-land.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/books/review/barack-obama-a-promised-land.html The politics book: Big ideas simply explained by Kate Johnsen, Sam Atkinson & Rebecca Warren, https://www.frostmagazine.com/2013/03/the-politics-book-review/ Airport by Arthur Hailey, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/arthur-hailey-3/airport/ Image: Andrey Kukharenko CC2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/192897193@N02/51199553335/